A Girl, A Boy, and A Graveyard
by fleurofthecourt
Summary: Juliette, Nick, and Monroe finish their dinner, and later Nick and Monroe bury the reapers. [Episode Tag/Episode Filler for S1E19: Leave It to Beavers, Nick/Monroe/Juliette]


A/N: This story isn't exactly an episode tag, but it takes place during and after Episode 19 of Season 1 (Leave It to Beavers).

* * *

Juliette comes back to the table, leaving a giddy Monroe alone in the kitchen, reading aloud and commenting on a freshly printed recipe for vegan salmon.

"I think he's trying to commit it to memory in case I take it back from him," Juliette whispers to Nick as she reclaims her seat next to him. "So, why are you two being so weird?"

"What do you mean?" Nick asks as if he isn't painfully aware that he and Monroe have spent the last ten minutes doing some of the worst lying he's ever witnessed. And considering he's a cop, that's saying something.

"Nick," Juliette says in exasperation. "You're obviously keeping something out of the story."

Nick huffs as he decides that he's going to have to give something away for Juliette to believe anything that he and Monroe say for the rest of the evening, "When I met Monroe, it was because he was a suspect in the kidnapping."

"So, you're both worried that I'm going to be upset that you're best friends with a former suspect?" Juliette asks, narrowing her eyes. She looks less than convinced that this is all that's missing.

"Aren't you?" Nick asks, trying to ignore the word best, because how did that get thrown in there? Besides, he knows that Hank thinks their relationship is weird so it doesn't seem like that much of stretch for Juliette to be upset about it. And she and Hank were usually on the same page (which is why dinners with Hank, that didn't involve hexenbiests, were usually excellent).

"I'm not upset about that. I'm upset that you lied about it. Nick, you can't keep keeping me out, if you want this to work," Juliette says seriously. "And right now, it seems like you're closer to him than you are to me, perhaps too much closer."

Nick holds his forkful of salmon in front of his mouth as he gapes at Juliette.

"You don't think...?" Nick starts to ask, horrified by what Juliette is implying. He would never. Then again, this isn't the first time Juliette's thought otherwise.

"Only emotionally, Nick," Juliette replies to the unfinished question. As much as he'd like to be able to, he can't argue with her there; Monroe knows most of the things about him that she doesn't, and some of it isn't even Grimm related. "But I think you want more. Tell me I'm wrong."

He couldn't. He curses himself for taking Monroe's coat the way he did, because he's fairly certain that gave him away. Why couldn't he and Monroe just respect each other's personal space like normal straight guys? He supposes it's because they aren't.

"That's what I thought. I might too," Juliette says smiling widely as Monroe comes back into the dining room thus ending their hushed conversation.

The rest of dinner is comparatively uneventful, but Nick is still a little relieved when he and Juliette finally usher Monroe out the door. Juliette was hinting at something earlier, but he had to be sure of what.

As they dry the dishes, Nick's heart races a little when Juliette tells him that she thinks she loves Monroe. And when he asks if he should be jealous, he's not quite sure who he means to be jealous of. And better yet, he thinks Juliette understands that.

Later that night, Juliette tells him to be sure to give Monroe a kiss from her the next time he sees him. Nick smiles softly as he leans into her side and rests his head on her shoulder.

But his smile fades as she falls asleep because he knows the problems with their relationship are much, much deeper than her not knowing about his crush on Monroe. He stares at the ceiling and wonders if she would still be telling him to do that if she knew that they weren't telling her anywhere near everything.

Of course, It's not that he doesn't want to; if it were that, he'd have decided to follow Aunt Marie's advice about leaving her a long time ago. He just doesn't think she's going to believe him without hard evidence; if he hadn't seen wesen changing before his very own eyes, he's certain that he wouldn't have. And, honestly, when that had started, he'd thought he was going out of his mind. How was he suppose to get her to believe he's the monster under the bed to an entire society that she doesn't even know and probably won't believe exists? And worse still, if what Monroe had said was true, trying to show her would cause even bigger problems.

Unfortunately, making his relationship work with both Juliette and Monroe isn't something Nick has the time to dwell on over the next few days because he has a murder case to solve and some reluctant eisbibers to earn the trust of. And the next time Nick sees Monroe happens to be when he needs help burying the bodies of two reapers.

He watches as Monroe swings the scythe, following the motion with his eyes. He had expected Monroe to agree with him about sending the Reapers a message, just not quite so violently. He blinks and grimaces as the weapon meets flesh. He's really had about enough of that for one evening.

He tries not to dwell on the fact that there's going to be a lot more evenings like this in his future. He'd really known to expect the affirmative when he'd asked Monroe if they were going to keep coming for him, but he'd hoped Monroe would lie or sugarcoat it. It really wasn't like Monroe to do either of those things. But he'd hoped.

Although Monroe's cynical reply wasn't unexpected, he hadn't exactly found it comforting.

Nick looks forlornly at the heads on the floor as he wonders vaguely where exactly they're going to send them. Did the Reapers have some kind of headquarters? He isn't sure. So he decides, as he usually does, to just ask Monroe.

He turns to find that the older man is already beside him, sliding his arm around his shoulder, "Look, Nick, I said we'd be ready for them. And I mean it. They're not going to kill you. You're not dying on my watch."

Nick keeps looking at the floor for a moment because he's not really sure what to do. He knows Monroe is serious, and he's a little overwhelmed by the gravity of that. How did they go from Monroe being aggravated by his very existence to wanting to preserve it?

He leans into Monroe's side as he puts his hand around Monroe's back, "That goes both ways, you know."

"Glad to hear it. Now, let's get these bodies out of here. Because they already reek, and I can't imagine letting them stay here longer is going to help," Monroe says as he gestures to the decapitated corpses. After a short argument about where they're going to bury the bodies, Nick convinces Monroe that it's going to ultimately be safer if they bury them by a cemetery because it would be far less suspicious than a few yards from the building they're in if they're found.

Nick digs some tarp out of his truck, and they wrap the bodies up and carefully place them on the backseat before agreeing to meet at the churchyard a few miles up the road. As Nick drives, Juliette's words from earlier echo in the back of his mind. If he'd had any doubt before, he's now positive that he's closer to Monroe than he is to Juliette. Because somehow he doesn't think she would have brought a shovel to him late at night on the other side of town, no questions asked.

But as it turns out, Monroe was not completely question less.

"Why didn't you tell me to bring two shovels?" Monroe asks as Nick hands the shovel over to Monroe as he slumps against a nearby tombstone in exhaustion. They'd been taking turns digging with the one shovel that Monroe had brought, and while Nick was grateful that Monroe's turns seemed to be lasting slightly longer than his, he felt a twinge guilty about it.

"Saying bring shovels didn't seem as ominous," Nick says sheepishly. "I thought you might have missed the point."

Monroe rolls his eyes at that, then comments,"Well, we'd probably already be done, and you could have gone to bed already; you look half dead. But, dude, if you want to sleep against that headstone, that's totally your prerogative."

Instead of arguing that he isn't going to fall asleep right there in the cemetery, because, honestly, he might, he changes the subject, "So, where are we supposed to send the heads? Reapers incorporated?"

Apparently he's even more tired than he thought because he vaguely hears Monroe saying something about a website and that can't possibly be right. His eyes slide close, and the next thing he knows Monroe's shoulder is pressing against his as evidently the older man has sat down beside him. Monroe ruffles his hair and says, "You know, we should probably, uh, get going."

"Yeah," Nick agrees, making no effort to get up. He yawns and adds "In a few minutes. I'm not done napping."

"Yeah, in a graveyard, at," Monroe pauses as he makes a show of looking down at his watch "at nearly two in the morning. It is waaay past my bedtime, man."

"Well," Nick says as he tugs Monroe's head and shoulders into his lap, "No one said you couldn't sleep here."

"I'm saying that I can't sleep here," Monroe says as he tries to lift his head back up as Nick tries to pin him down. "And neither can you. Because this is, uh, really awkward. And a terrible idea. Think about what would happen if we both fell asleep here, would you."

Nick hardly thinks about it as he leans down and kisses Monroe on the cheek, "I know you aren't going to let that happen."

Monroe blushes deeply as he recoils. Then he stammers out, "Uh, Nick. What are you doing?"

"I remembered that I owed you a kiss," Nick says drowsily. He can tell from everything about his evening that he's drunk on lack of sleep and spent adrenaline, but he doesn't care. He's wanted to kiss Monroe since long before Juliette had told him to. And he wasn't wasting the opportunity.

"Owed? Nick, this, uh, can't be payment for a favor," Monroe says as he runs his hand through his hair, looking perplexed and confused. "Besides, we're even. We've been even. Uh..."

"Juliette said to kiss you for her," Nick says as he leans into Monroe's shoulder and pulls Monroe's arm down, then he laces his own fingers in Monroe's curls for a moment before leaning down, "But this one is from me."

He presses his lips against Monroe's and drinks in the smell of mud, sweat, and wood. He tries not to pull away in surprise as Monroe's beard brushes against his lips as Monroe meets the kiss.

They stay tangled together for a few minutes before Monroe pulls away, "Okay, man, we should probably, uh, talk about this in the morning or something. But we really do need to get out of this cemetery. Preferably before the sun comes up."

Nick knows Monroe's right, but he doesn't want to admit it. He sighs and reaches into his jacket pocket for his truck keys.

Monroe reaches for them, "I'll be taking those."

"I can't leave my truck here," Nick protests.

"Okay, I'll move it, but first," Monroe says as he scoops Nick off the ground and starts carrying him towards his car. "I'm making sure you don't go anywhere."

Nick wonders where he was likely to go, but doesn't argue. He's half asleep already.

The next morning Nick wakes up on Monroe's couch. He lies still and keeps his eyes closed as he listens to the faint sound of conversation coming from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm sure he's fine," Monroe says. "He just bumped his head when we were going digging for some suspects. And I didn't want him to drive home."

"Yeah, I completely understand," Juliette says. From her tone, Nick imagines Monroe has already told her this story once. "This is really good coffee, by the way."

"Oh thanks, Nick doesn't seem to appreciate it that much," Monroe says.

"I do so, and you know it," Nick insists as he walks into the kitchen and pulls down a mug. He doesn't bother to pretend like he doesn't know where they are.

"Hey," Juliette says as she kisses him on the cheek. "Monroe and I just went to get your truck. Are you okay?"

"I kissed him last night," Nick blurts out.

"So I heard. I'm not worried about that. I am worried about your head though," Juliette says as she places her hand on his shoulder. "Again, are you okay?"

Although he knows that their relationship is far from perfect, as he looks between Juliette and Monroe, he decides that in this precise moment, he has never been better.


End file.
